In Defence of Objectivity
Routledge – 2007 – 256 pages
This volume addresses the interlocking themes of realism, objectivity, existentialism and (eco-socialist) politics, based on critical realism. However, it moves beyond the purely scientific orientation of earlier contributions to this philosophy, to further develop the themes.The title essay defends objectivity in science, everyday knowledge, and ethics, and examines both subjective idealism and existentialist critiques of objectivity. The other essays examine some of the same themes but from different angles, keeping the politics of the issues at the forefront.
1. The Inorganic Body and the Ambiguity of Freedom 2. Value, Rationality and the Environment 3. Unhewn Demonstrations 4. Critical Realism and the Heritage of the Enlightenment 5. On Slave Rebellions in Morals 6. The Right Rebellion in the Wrong Cause: Heidegger, Technology and the Market 7. Sartre: Intimations of Authenticity 8. Sartre's Mistaken Approach to Marxism 9. Berdyaev's Socialism 10. In Defence of Objectivity
Andrew Collier is a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Southampton. His previous publications addressed socialist thought or critical realism or both: most recently Being and Worth extends realism to ethics and Christianity and Marxism aims to reconcile these two world views.